UNC celebrated a little too much for N.C. State’s taste after last year’s game in Raleigh

One of the best things about rivalry games is that there’s already enough motivation to go around without worrying about providing the other side with bulletin board material.

That means players can say pretty much whatever they want during the week preceding the big game without worrying too much about its effect on an already fired-up opponent.

As if right on cue, it didn’t take long for the rhetoric to heat up in advance of Saturday’s regular-season ending showdown between North Carolina and N.C. State.

Jones

Speaking at Monday’s regularly scheduled media availability, Wolfpack safety Hakim Jones fired the first salvo when he called out Tar Heel quarterback Marquise Williams for being soft.

“He’s very hesitant, for the most part,” Jones said. “He runs the ball a lot, so after you hit him a few times, he basically almost quits. He doesn’t really like to get hit even though he runs the ball a lot of times in the game. Once you hit him a few times, he hesitates going through the hole.”

Apparently Jones hasn’t seen the tape of UNC’s game against Pittsburgh, in which Williams sent Panthers’ cornerback Lafayette Pitts flying with a major league stiff arm on his way into the end zone for one of the 12 rushing touchdowns he’s scored this season. Williams also leads UNC in rushing with 726 yards while averaging better than five yards per carry.

But when it comes to rivalry week trash talking, emotion always plays better than the facts.

Pitts, by the way, also did some pregame jawing at Williams, which probably explains the reaction of UNC coach Larry Fedora to Jones’ comments.

QB Marquise WIlliams leads UNC in rushing this season

“Marquise will love hearing that,” Fedora said. “I guarantee you.”

So far, that’s the only guarantee anyone at UNC has made about the State game.

It’s a silence that probably has more to do with the still-fresh controversy surrounding the Tar Heels’ most recent rivalry game celebration – a spray paint incident that did an estimated $10,000 in damage to a Duke locker room last Thursday – than a lack of confidence against the Wolfpack.

Or perhaps UNC’s players realize that they’ve already stirred the pot enough by their actions following last year’s game at Carter-Finley Stadium, when they nearly caused a brawl by stomping on the Wolfpack’s midfield logo after their 27-19 win.

“I’m going to remember what they did on the 50-yard line after the game for the next 364 days,” State coach Dave Doeren said at the time, 361 days ago. “And I’m going to look forward to playing them next year.”

As disrespectful as the Tar Heels’ actions might have been, the passion it showed marked an important turning point in a series that had begun to lose some of its edge in recent years.

Because while Doeren’s predecessor Tom O’Brien took great pleasure in both beating UNC and reminding the world of his dominance of the Tar Heels, the standard response from the folks in Chapel Hill was that the Wolfpack wasn’t really their rival.

The fact that UNC’s players cared enough to rub it in suggests that after five losses in the six previous meetings, their attitude on the subject has changed.

There’s no love lost between N.C. State’s Dave Doeren and UNC’s Larry Fedora

Although there’s no Victory Bell to cart around and spray paint, there’s no denying that this is – in fact – a rivalry game of the highest order. Fedora himself confirmed that only moments after the aforementioned victory at Duke.

Asked if he was concerned about his team being able to get up for a second straight rivalry game, especially one against an opponent coming off a bye week, the high-strung coach simply chuckled.

“We’re playing the team in red,” was his response. “That’s all you’ve got to say.”

Of course, it’s still early in the week.

Chances are that by the time kickoff rolls around Saturday, both sides will have found a lot more to say about one another.